Pandora's Book
Alec Patton & Mackenzie Schultz
Team Run DMC
Similar to this years Humanities project, The Book of Us, Team Run DMC was able to write science fiction stories of any topic of choosing. The sci-fi stories in Pandora's Book range form time paradoxes to talking dogs. Team Run DMC began brainstorming by listing out every and any science fiction book, movie, television show etc. We barely covered a long piece of butcher paper. For ideas and inspiration we watched a couple sci-fi movies. Jurassic Park, Contact, The Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, I'm not a science fiction person and I enjoyed all three of those movies. Maybe it also had to do with watching a movie in class instead of work. Anyway, we got into groups of about four and brainstormed some ideas of article we read online. A "mind map" (below), what a science fiction author calls it. Run DMC also wrote premises/prompts to inspire our imagination (below). Created Facebook profile for characters in our story (below). We read numerous stories, I mean a lot. I missed a half day sine I was volunteering at a soup kitchen, feeding people, keeping them alive, doing good in the world. You know that's what I do, and I didn't turn in a reading I wasn't there for, it was like my grade popped and deflated like a balloon. I think you get the idea of how many stories we read. The was one story we didn't read as a class but Dr.P told me to look over it. Mazes premise was about a lab rat. It was from the rats perspective. I appreciate how the author made it sound so intrinsic and unusual.
Big Idea Graphic Organizer
https://docs.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/document/d/1XzTjP6yKPbiw8qNgZC77gEryJyoUP8LH7sfsvIC8Sw0/edit?usp=sharing
World-Building Graphic Organizer
https://docs.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/document/d/1_4_ONQdLuo1LSKBw9q7Oixds8fZuasd7zRhKwuIJmSA/edit?usp=sharing
Research Doc
https://docs.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/document/d/1tTWgWxNoi1cXY8A9rwN1pRrdDZvKTxfjSb8qqinv-84/edit?usp=sharing
Logical Leaps Graphic Organizer
https://docs.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/document/d/1I-EbfYTS2TE2NPApPhYHgU1seUkBN4zvm7-lzaJRXME/edit?usp=sharing
Down Draft
https://docs.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/document/d/1YaXTe80Ko0Ppk0H5rNVz58haKoLu0O7cw1HzDqIwjhg/edit?usp=sharing
Final Draft
https://docs.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/document/d/1z1fMWEZ7gXYPrhWJbkjSLFQfP2JydRBlLjsZ7pT9KGI/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/document/d/1XzTjP6yKPbiw8qNgZC77gEryJyoUP8LH7sfsvIC8Sw0/edit?usp=sharing
World-Building Graphic Organizer
https://docs.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/document/d/1_4_ONQdLuo1LSKBw9q7Oixds8fZuasd7zRhKwuIJmSA/edit?usp=sharing
Research Doc
https://docs.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/document/d/1tTWgWxNoi1cXY8A9rwN1pRrdDZvKTxfjSb8qqinv-84/edit?usp=sharing
Logical Leaps Graphic Organizer
https://docs.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/document/d/1I-EbfYTS2TE2NPApPhYHgU1seUkBN4zvm7-lzaJRXME/edit?usp=sharing
Down Draft
https://docs.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/document/d/1YaXTe80Ko0Ppk0H5rNVz58haKoLu0O7cw1HzDqIwjhg/edit?usp=sharing
Final Draft
https://docs.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/document/d/1z1fMWEZ7gXYPrhWJbkjSLFQfP2JydRBlLjsZ7pT9KGI/edit?usp=sharing
Project Reflection
I have no idea what was going through my head when I agreed to edit and copy/paste 52 stories into a document. It was painful, believe me. When Mack and Dr.P announced that we were going to write another set of stories that were going into another book I truly was not excited. They had a full class of 16/17 year-olds ready to go on internship and for sure did not want to sit their butts down and write another book in a matter of 3 weeks! 3 weeks? What writing piece is written in 3 weeks and is good? Writing takes time. Ideas and inspiration and imagination takes time especially when writing science fiction. Once again I have absolutely no clue how, but we did it. It's that High Tech High magic.
From the start I was not looking forward to the project I didn't know what I wanted to write about. Even if I did it probably wouldn't be any good, I'd think to myself. I was filling out all of my graphic organizer with random topics, I just did it for the points that I never even got. I thought about what I would enjoy and I said, okay what if animals could speak. I played around with that but it wasn't getting me anywhere. That;s when I reached out f or some help. I mentioned to Dr.P that I was stuck in a ditch and don't know where to go. He recommended that I read a short science fiction story, Mazes. Mazes was basically a lab rats perspective of the life he's living. The author gave clues to the narrator but never disclosed that it was a lab rat. The reader had to decide. I found that amazing and chose to take a similar path. In my short story I also never said that fact that it is a dog, I just give the reader clues and let their imagination decide. The most difficult part to writing my story, even if it's only about a page, was getting close enough to the same writing style as the author of Mazes. It was a challenge but I think for an amateur 16 year-old writer I got it right. My drafts were quite similar, the whole time I was aiming for that writing style I wanted. The one big take away from this project is we read for different purposes. Maybe for the story, the author, sometimes for inspiration. I never knew how important it was to use other models of writing to boost yours. There are so many diverse writing styles in this world and we need to learn from them. |
4 Weeks Later...
Something I did during the Sci-fi Project that I find useful for the next time I write is the type of writing style I use. Throughout my whole story I let there be a hint of confusion until the very end I give it away. I let the readers imagination run wild and choose what the story is about . The one thing I wish I had done differently is not give it away at the end of the story that it was about a dog. I am proud of what I wrote I wish I changed a couple things though.